Price cuts for UH sports benefit students most

More coaches will be eligible for bonuses

For those keeping score, the University of Hawaii athletic department went 3-for-3 at the Board of Regents meeting yesterday.

Even before the regents approved the $5 million donation from the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation for refurbishing of what will be now known as Ching (formerly Cooke) Field, it was a good day for a department battling an ongoing budget deficit and involved in three highly publicized lawsuits.

In addition to the big-money item, two other proposals were approved by the board. One lowers ticket prices, and the other provides bonuses for coaches who take student-athletes to NCAA championships.

Athletic director Jim Donovan said he will "kick the tires one more time" and then enact the following price changes, among others:

» Season tickets for football in the upper levels of the end zones at Aloha Stadium will be reduced. Individual game tickets in the north end zone will drop to $12 from $22 for ages 4 to high school.

» A season-ticket package in the upper level of the Stan Sheriff Center for men's basketball will fall to $40 from $59 for UH students. An upper-level ticket for an individual game will drop to $18 from $22 for adults.

» Student season tickets for baseball go to $50 from $75.

» There will be free admission to men's volleyball matches for UH students in the Super Rooter/Manoa Maniacs sections and the upper level.

With the purchase of at least two adult tickets, fans receive two student tickets for the price of one.

"This allows us to lower our minimum prices and create a family package and simplify the number of pricing tiers," Donovan said. "The bottom line is we want more people to come to our events. Economics 101 says if you lower the price point, you'll increase the demand."

The board also approved a new policy that allows supplemental compensation for coaches of individual athletes in NCAA championship events. Previously, such bonuses went only to coaches of teams in such events.